While I was in New Hampshire for the last couple+ weeks. I did very little detecting. My best find though was a 1836 large cent. Only one winged lib dime to add to my collection. I drove around looking for future places to hunt. I stopped in Winchendon Mass. to look up some old friends, and ran into this old factory and machine shop of yesteryear. Walked in and asked if anyone minded if I swung the coil around the area....."Go right ahead have fun".
Bottom line, I did'nt have time, so It is still there in case any members are around that area. Just ask. It is the Goodspeed complex directly behind the civic center.......Gil

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"The uncontested absurdities of today are the accepted slogans of tomorrow. They come to be accepted by degrees, by dint of constant pressure on one side and constant retreat on the other - until one day when they are suddenly declared to be the country's official ideology." — AR

I hear that alot of these fine old structures are being torn down. What a shame. I often visit in Central Mass. and thought I would get a no due to all the historic stuff there. Guess I'll have to ask next time.

I have a few spots that are old factories that were shown on 1890 maps that have been torn down. Also have a couple of 1890 house foundations that I will search when time permits. I am also in the middle of researching where the flag stop railroad stations were located on the abandoned railroads in Winchendon.

Originally Posted by Camp68View post
Building like that should never be torn down. That is a shame!!

Correct. And during the demolition land clearing process, can incidentally scrape away several inches of soil , in the process of tractors scraping up all the debris. And hence possibly taking away the prime soil to the landfill somewhere else. And or then building a new Motel 6 on top of the site, etc...

Which is exactly why I feel utterly no guilt when I find and remove old coins at such sites.

We had one historic site here slated to be bulldozed, but the developer was required to have an "environmental impact report". One portion of which was the "cultural heritage impact". When the importance of the site became clear, the developer was required to have an archaeologist monitor the site during the work. But the developer was sure to hire a "customer friendly" archie who .... wouldn't you know it ........ "didn't find anything of interest".

We saw the dirt being hauled off in trucks, and knew full well that coins were being hauled out with that dirt. Because prior to the development, reales, early seateds, buttons, etc.... had been found there. And ... off the record ... a few more were found during the demolition process.

It's funny you mention that Tom...about the "customer friendly" environmental folks. I've ran into that same issue rescently. In fact, some cultural resource folks even look the other way when big, high dollar projects are at stake of being held up.

A few years ago, I asked for permission from a superintendent during the groundbreaking of a parking garage who happens to be digging in an area that had a tremendous amount of activity during the late 1840's- 1900's. Nice guy, but could not allow me to try my luck. After giving him a little history of the area, he was interested in what could be found but was afraid that I would actually find something and stall the project....which in turn costs $$. So after a week went by, the project had stopped because they actually found some dinosaur bones. Chances are, I wouldn't have dug that deep. Plus I wouldn't have made such a huge deal about any finds I would have made....I should have been an archeologist!

Originally Posted by Camp68View post
.... Nice guy, but could not allow me to try my luck. After giving him a little history of the area, he was interested in what could be found but was afraid that I would actually find something and stall the project....which in turn costs $$...

Which is exactly what happened on the project I speak of here. The original archie they hired to monitor was doing his job too good. So they let that firm go. And hired another one from over an hour away, at 2x the price. Hmmm. So next we saw a lady archie who did nothing but stand their all day, drink coffee, watch the bulldozers. And .. presto, didn't find anything (what a surprise, eh ? ).

And just like your situation: We asked the developer. But he was petrified we might find something , and word leak back to some inspector or whatever . So he had to give us the obligatory "no". However, I knew this fellow through business connections so his "no" was with a sort of "wink wink". So ... I can neither confirm nor deny that activity went on after 5pm . I can neither confirm nor deny that a cool 1805 1 reale and several phoenix buttons were found.

During the period that it sat vacant, awaiting the wrecking ball, is when I would have hit it.

As for the historical society having told you "no": Be aware that a lot of historical societies and historical museums are populated (on their boards of directors, etc....) with archaeologists. And we all know what archies think of md'ing. Hence yes: You will often run up against resistance the minute they hear the word "metal detector".

We had a situation here in my town, where a building in the 1880s side of town caught fire. What was left of it was deemed beyond repair, so it sat awaiting the wrecking ball for many months. The plan was that the land would be turned over to an adjacent homeless shelter rescue skid-row mission soup kitchen. So I approached them for permission to detect the ground, once the demolition had pulled out. The guy originally said "yes".

But then later, once the demolition was complete a few months later, when we arrived to exercise our permission, the guy said that the "board of directors got wind of it, and decided they didn't want that" Despite us having insurance on our own selves, etc.... No explanation was given. Just appeared they "didn't want to be bothered".

So this vacant lot, with utterly no fence or signs, sat vacant for months. I know of guys who didn't ask. Just went. No one cared less. They got some tokens and old coins. Shame on them I guess ?